CHICAGO (CBS) — Thursday is the day Chicago’s new restrictions for Millennium Park go into effect. Starting tonight at 6 p.m., kids under 18 years of age will need to be with an adult in order to stay in the park.
The rule will be in effect each night from Thursday through Sunday. The goal is to stop chaotic scenes similar to the one last Saturday that left a 16-year-old shot and killed and two other men shot and wounded.
The mayhem began after police cleared the park and pushed the young crowd into and through the downtown area.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls the curfew a move she has to make.
“I want to be clear it gives me no pleasure to impose these rules and restrictions but having exhausted every other opportunity. Every other tool and remedy, we’ve got to go to this next step,” she said.
The rules updated on the Millennium Park websites says:
“Effective immediately, guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult (21 years and older) after 6 p.m, Thursday through Sunday — and may be asked to present a valid ID. The adult must be present for the duration of the visit and may escort up to four young people.”
It’s not clear how the new millennium park rule will be enforced. But Mayor Lightfoot did say the city is working with Chicago Public Schools to make sure both kids and their parents are aware of the change.
The mayor also plans to change the current city-wide Friday and Saturday night curfew from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. — but it turns out, she can’t just do that with simply an executive order.
The City Council’s Public Safety Committee will consider the change during a meeting Friday morning.
Civil rights groups have blasted the mayor’s executive order as a ‘power grab’.
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